Acetronic MPU 2000 System & Games Review

The Acetronic MPU 2000 was released in 1979 by Acetronic (duh) in the United Kingdom. It was technically compatible with Interton VC-4000 software, however the cartridge slots and cartridges were different for each machine so you couldn't take an Acetronic cart and plug it straight into an Interton machine. The Interton VC-4000 was quite popular in Europe at the time.

There is very little information available online about the Acetronic MPU 2000 so hopefully this review will give a little bit of insight to anyone looking to learn more about the machine. Unfortunately I only own 3 games: Invaders, Air/Sea Attack and Follow the leader/Electronic Music. Because of this, I will review the system and games in one go. 



Acetronic MPU 2000

The system itself is fairly plain looking. There is a panel on the front with an On/Off switch and Load Programme, Game Select and Start buttons. The Load Programme button is needed because unlike most cartridge based consoles, the cartridge needs to be loaded into RAM before it can be played.

This is quite unusual, the Interton VC-4000 family (as the Interton and similar machines like the Acetronic are known) are probably the only home consoles ever to have this feature. I say probably, because as I mentioned before the information available on these consoles is quite sparse and in places ambiguously worded.

The controllers are wired into the console, which is really annoying because you can't replace them easily. They are quite nice, however. The whole controller is a fairly chunky thing, but I think I have fairly average sized hands and it fits quite comfortably for me.

You have a large 360° analogue joystick which feels pretty smooth to move around, if a bit loose. That could be to do with the age though. You have two red fire buttons and also a 9 button keypad. I much prefer this keypad to the one on the Intellivision controller, as you have proper clicky buttons on the Acetronic instead of the crappy squishy ones on the Intellivision. Some games such as Electronic Music come with an overlay, in this case telling us which buttons supposedly correspond with each note.

The only big problem I have with the controllers are the cords. Why would anyone ever use a twirly cord? If the cord was straight, I could sit twice as far from the telly and I wouldn't keep accidentally pulling the console towards me. Harrumph!

The Acetronic cartridges are bulky compared to other cartridges from the era. Here's one next to an Atari 2600 cartridge for comparison:

Would you rather play Space Invaders, or slightly larger Space Invaders?

The large '27' is the release number in the series of the massive library of 34 games available for this console. It took a while to find, but here is a full (I think) list of games compatible with the Acetronic MPU2000.


Games (I'll probably be comparing to Atari a lot, you've been warned)

First up is Invaders, or INVADERS as the cart says, but I didn't want to shout at you.
As you might have guessed, it's a Space Invaders clone. It's not the worst I've played but it's definitely not the best. One of the first things you'll notice is that the graphics are chunkier than the Atari 2600 version. Personally I actually think that these chunkier graphics have a bit of charm to them. Cute chubby barricades,  I just wanna squeeze those cheeks!

On the other hand, what is up with that formation? You're not going to invade anyone in diagonal lines, are you? Another peeve is that there is none of the classic "dun, dun, dun, dun, dun,dun,dun,dun" going on. More of just a 'bep,bep,bep,bep'. The shooting sounds are quite satisfying PEWs though, so it's all good.

The variant game types are also pretty uninteresting, not that I would expect anything mind blowing from an inferior Space Invaders clone. I do find it quite amusing how they doubled the number of 'games' on the cartridge by having 'Daylight Invasion' and 'Night Assault', which just switches the colours.


Air/Sea Attack

This one is very similar to Air-Sea Battle on the Atari 2600. Again, I think I might prefer the graphics on the Acetronic version. It didn't come out too well on the photos, but the Acetronic has really vivid colours, which is awesome. 

The gameplay, however, is worse than the Atari version. There are fewer game modes and it just isn't as much fun.
Having said that, it is a closer clone than Invaders was, and is a good substitute for Air-Sea Battle. If I didn't have an Atari, I would be perfectly happy playing this game.









Follow The Leader/Electronic Music

This is the main reason I bought this system, I really like making noise with old equipment. The 'follow the leader' games are a sort of Simon/basic music tuition software hybrid. I could see this being a fairly useful tool for younger children back in the day, getting them to learn basic musical theory while also having fun.
The real gem lies in Electronic Music, however. Here is a clip of the built in tune 'When the Saints come marching in' to give you an idea of what it sounds like:

I love it! I love it I love it I love it!
Horrible, harsh bleeps are where it's at! Move over, Guitar. If I had my way, every cool kids instrument of choice would be the MPU 2000!


All in all, the Acetronic MPU2000 was an interesting copycat of various other home video consoles from the 70's. It's the little charms and oddities about this system that make me enjoy it. There's a reason it fell into the dark chasm of obscurity, though...

...Other than a little program that makes bleepy sounds, the games were just a bit crap.


Cheers for reading,
Dusty Old Games.

Cross Force - Atari 2600 (Spectravideo)

Cross Force from Spectravideo is a rare thing for the Atari 2600, it's a space ship shooter.
"But Dusty Old Games," I hear you scream, "there's a million and one space ship shooters for the 2600! Pheonix, Demon Attack, Galaxian, Star Raiders! "

Right you are reader, the 2600 certainly got it's fair share of space shooters. However, great though a lot of them are, most kept to the tried and tested formula. You are a ship at the bottom of the screen. Enemies are at the top of the screen. Shoot them. If you were really lucky, games like Vanguard, Yar's Revenge or Stargate (Defender) would come along and flip that game style horizontally.

Now I'm not complaining, that sort of game works. It gave us some fantastic games that have rightly earned their places on my shelves. What makes cross force different and interesting however is that you don't control one, but two gun/ship things, and what really gives me a developed case of brain wow is that you don't even have to shoot straight up!

Your two guns straddle the space in which enemies appear, one at the top and one at the bottom. 
Pressing right on the joystick makes the lower gun move right, and the upper gun move left, and vice versa. When you fire, rather than a mere pellet shooting out, a huge throbbing vein (heh) of lightning joins your two guns, blasting anything out of it's way with that lovely 2600 zap sound we all know and love.

If you're really lucky, all your enemies will line up diagonally (almost as if they want to die) and you can clear a whole screen of enemies with one delicious zap.

If this all sounds too simple for you, think again. The large 'mothership' you can see in the picture above keeps coming past and dropping off various enemies, which in turn drop off bombs on to your guns, which are one hit kills. Also, note the E---F gauge and the H gauge. Your guns run on fuel, the more you move, the more you use. You then have to shoot flashing asterisks ( fuel containers, you have to use your imagination a bit with 2600 games)  to refuel. However, the more you shoot, the closer to overheating (H) your guns get!

Managing this is easy enough for the first little while of the game, but as more enemies come they will move faster, meaning you have to move faster. They will drop more bombs both up and down, meaning you have to move out of the way more often. There is less fuel available, meaning you have to manage movement more carefully.

After playing for a while, like all the best Atari games, Cross Force becomes incredibly addictive. I had planned on playing for half an hour or so to freshen my memory prior to writing this review and accidentally ended up wasting half the afternoon away.

Despite the fact that it is fairly hard to come by and only ever got a North American release (yet inexplicably works fine on my UK console) I think most 2600 collectors would really enjoy this title, and it is a valuable addition to anyone's collection if you can hunt it down.

Cheers for reading,
Dusty Old Games

Gakken Galaxy Invader 1000

This simplified space invaders clone has to be one of my all time favorite LED handhelds.

Galaxy Invader 1000 was developed and published by Gakken (also licensed to Tandy under the 'Fire Away' toy line) in 1982.

It was released to cash in on the popularity of Space Invaders released 4 years earlier and delivered an experience very different to, but still reminiscent of, the arcade machine in a handheld.

The gameplay itself differs from Space Invaders in many ways, but retains the basic element of 'shooting upwards towards aliens and bonus motherships, while avoiding enemy fire'.
The game field consists of 3 columns of 'Invader Zone' with 5 different available rows, a 'UFO zone' row in which bonus ships appear (like motherships in Space Invaders), the ground row where your missile appears and a missile bunker where your remaining lives are.

Not much can be said for the actual gameplay other than it is fast and fun. I feel that the limited play area actually puts a nice spin on the theme, and makes the tiny joystick really easy to use, having only right, left and center positions. The fire button on this game is also really enjoyable to use. A huge bright red square that gives a satisfying click when pressed.

Shooting invaders get you more points the further from the ground they are, and you are awarded bonus points for hitting UFOs. If an invader reaches the ground, you run out of missiles (you are allowed 250 shots) or you run out of lives, game over. However, you can regain a life and some missiles when you reach 700 points. The game is won at 1000 points.

All in all I think that (like many LED and LCD games) most of Galaxy Invader 1000's merits come from its limitations. The warm blue flicker of the invaders, the harshness of the sound and the slight humming you get from old electronics makes this handheld a really charming little machine. 3 levels of speed/difficulty and quick games actually make it very playable, and much like the original Space Invaders, it screams re-playability and longevity.




Cheers for reading,
Dusty Old Games